


Album

by Skarabrae_stone



Series: Groot Steve Rocket Bucky: Scenes From a Life [9]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Memories, Photographs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22470712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skarabrae_stone/pseuds/Skarabrae_stone
Summary: Bucky finds Rocket looking at the album with photos Bucky's taken of him and Groot. This will not make much sense unless you've read "Scenes from a Life".
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Rocket Raccoon
Series: Groot Steve Rocket Bucky: Scenes From a Life [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1156619
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Album

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmilliaGryphon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Emillia Gryphon! I promised I'd finish this; sorry it took so long. I hope it's worth the wait! <3

_3 am: Rocket is sitting in the darkened living room, flipping through the album of photos Bucky’s taken of him. They’re mostly of Rocket with raccoons (and other animals), and Groot hugging trees._

_ Bucky enters the room. _

Bucky: HA! I knew it! You LIKE those pictures!

Rocket: *slams book shut What? No! I was just… curious, that’s all.

Bucky: *smugly* Sure, sure. That’s why you’re sneakin’ around in the dead of night, just to look at it.

Rocket: So what? I’m nocturnal!

Bucky: No, you’re not.

Rocket: Yeah? How would you know?

Bucky: Nocturnal means you sleep during the day. You don’t.

Rocket: Yeah, well, I sure as hell don’t sleep at night--

Bucky: You’re not sleeping? Are you okay? Should I tell Steve? Maybe we should…

Rocket: I’m fine! Anyway, who needs sleep? I got better things to do.

Bucky: Like crying over a photo album at three in the morning?

Rocket: I wasn’t  _ crying _ \--

Bucky: Rocket, you literally have tears in your eyes--

Rocket: I got allergies.

Bucky: Allergic to cute raccoon photos?

Rocket: Who’re you calling cute?

Bucky: Not you, clearly.

_ Rocket is not sure whether to be pleased that Bucky kind of complimented him just now, or be offended that he called him  cute. _

Bucky: So… why’re you lookin’ at that thing, really? 

Rocket: *grumpily* I already said-- I was curious.

Bucky: Uh huh. That thing’s been sitting there for six months, and you’re just gettin’ curious  _ now _ ?

Rocket: Fuck off, Barnes.

Bucky: *flopping onto the couch* You know what? I got no place to be. Bring it over here, I wanna look at it.

Rocket: What, just so you can make fun of me?

Bucky: I’m not gonna make fun. Promise.

_ Rocket considers, flicking his tail a few times, then finally relents and joins Bucky on the couch. _

Rocket: Fine. But only ‘cause  _ you  _ wanted to. 

Bucky: *humoring him* Sure, sure. *He turns the page, to a picture of Rocket standing next to a regular raccoon. Rocket looks mildly pissed off. The raccoon is sniffing him curiously.* Ha! I remember this.

Rocket: It was two months ago, I should hope you remember it.

Bucky: Hey, I take the victories I can get, okay? 

_ Flips page to a picture of Rocket standing on a boulder in a park, in a somewhat heroic pose. Groot is behind him giving him bunny ears. _

Rocket: That little mulch-head. Don’t know why I put up with him.

Bucky: Eh, teenagers are just like that. Steve was a holy terror when he was that age.

Rocket: *snorts* Oh yeah, pull the other one.

Bucky: No, seriously, he was awful. He stole our neighbor’s dog and sold it for fifty cents to some woman in Queens.

Rocket: What? Why?”

Bucky: The guy was keeping him tied up in this tiny little yard, and, uh, I don’t think he was feedin’ him too good… So, yeah, Steve took matters into his own hands.

Rocket: So he was always a do-gooder, is what you’re saying.

Bucky: Okay, but I’m pretty sure he never would’ve done it if the guy hadn’t… actually, I don’t remember exactly what he did, but he pissed Steve off some kinda way. 

Rocket: Bet the dog appreciated it, though.

Bucky: Probably.

_ A long pause. They’re both slowly paging through the album, looking at the pictures of mostly Rocket and Groot, with a few of Steve. Some of the photos were clearly taken as sort of a prank-- for example, the one of Rocket with paint in his fur, making it stick up every which way-- but some of them are… Well, they’re family photos. The family in question just happens to be a walking tree, a talking raccoon, a cyborg assassin, and Captain America. _

Bucky: I get it, you know. Wanting to remind yourself.

Rocket: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Bucky: Sometimes, I still think this has to be some kind of dream, or, or hallucination. I like having something like this to remind me-- something solid. It can’t be deleted, or forgotten, or wiped away. *He taps the book.* It’s right here. It’s real.

Rocket: Can’t believe you took all these stupid pictures o’ me.

Bucky: I mean, there’s stupid pictures of all of us in there. Even Steve. *He pauses.*  _ Especially  _ Steve.

_Another pause._   


Rocket: *touching the page with his paw* I just… the only pictures of me I ever knew about were just to document their experiments. I ain’t never had someone keep photos of me, just for… for  _ me _ , before.

Bucky: You gotta keep memories where you can find ‘em again. And hold onto good things while you can. 

Rocket: *Tapping a rare photo of the four of them, a selfie where they’re all making silly faces.* This. This here’s a good thing. I… sometimes, I wake up, and… I gotta remind myself. Where I am. Why I’m still here.

Bucky: Yeah. I get it.

Rocket: I know you do.

_ They continue to look at the pictures, neither of them speaking. They don’t need words to understand each other, and right now, inside the sleeping household, this is all the comfort they need. _


End file.
